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Monday, February 20, 2012

Roasted Red Pepper and Walnut “Pesto”

Since
I got my Food Matters Cookbook by Mark Bittman, I
couldn’t wait to start making the first recipe for theFood Matters Project.Everyone else on the team has already made
two, so I’m a little late here.

This
week, Heather of girlichef, chose the recipe… Roasted Red Pepper and Walnut
Pesto. Click on her website for the original recipe. Thank you for this great
pick, Heather!﻿

Fresh Herb Pasta with Roasted Red Pepper Walnut Pesto

I
made a couple of modifications with my pesto. One of the modifications happened
because I did not read the directions very well. According to the directions, the bell peppers should be roasted whole and then it's easier to skin them. Darn, I cut all eight peppers into
strips.
Ooops! When they’re cut in pieces, removing the skin is NOT an easy task, so I just decided
to forget the skinning part and carried on. Making this pesto without skinning the
roasted peppers worked out just fine though. Thank goodness! Also, walnuts already have natural oil in them, so I decided to use just ¼ cup of olive
oil instead of ½ cup. Because I love garlic, I went with 4 cloves instead of the
recommended 2 and it’s wonderful.

After
reading about all the pasta with pesto sauce recipes in various food blogs, I
decided to do the same for this roasted red pepper and walnut pesto. I made
fresh herb pasta from Alice Waters’ The
Art of Simple Food. Usually, I love vegetables in my pasta but because I
wanted to experience the full flavors of this pesto, I roasted vegetables
instead and had them on the side. Roasted red pepper and walnut pesto is
wonderful with pasta. Sprinkle the top with some freshly grated Pecorino Romano
or parmesan cheese and you have a wonderful dish, simple and rich at the same
time, with nutty goodness, bright bites of garlic, and subtle hints of basil.

Pour
the flour and herbs in a small mixing bowl. Using a whisk, mix together well.

Beat
the eggs in another small bowl. Pour the beaten eggs into the flour bowl and
mix with a fork until all the flour is soaked. Eventually it will be too thick
to mix and small clumps of flour will form. Get rid of the fork and continue
mixing by hand.

Move
the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead it. If the dough is too dry,
add a few drops of water until it starts to come together. Shape the dough into
a small ball and wrap it in plastic. Before you start rolling it out, let the
dough rest for at least an hour (I was in a time crunch and only let it rest
for about 10 minutes and it was fine).

Using
a rolling pin, roll out the dough as thinly as possible. This is quite a
challenging feat, but it is very important to keep it super thin. Fresh pasta
will fatten up when cooked and the inside won’t cook as well if it’s too thick.
So, again, roll the dough until it is flat and super-duper thin.

Cut
the flattened dough however way you want to cut it. I cut it in linguini strips
and then cut the long strips into thirds so they cook faster.

Fill
a medium sauce pan 2/3 full of water and add salt to taste. Bring the water to
a rolling boil and add the pasta. Stir and cover the pan. Wait for it to boil
again and uncover the pan. I’m not sure how long I cooked it for because it’s
always longer than when the recipe says it should be done. So, just keep
tasting it until you think it’s done the way you want it, tender or al dente. When it's done, drain the pasta (but save some of the water, you might want some in your sauce).

Meanwhile,
heat the roasted red pepper pesto in a large pan over medium low heat. When it
is hot enough, add the cooked pasta. Mix until everything is well-combined. If you want a more liquidy sauce, add a couple tablespoons of the pasta water until it is to your desired consistency.

Serve
immediately and sprinkle with freshly grated Pecorino Romano.

﻿Some
notes:

This
pesto is pretty versatile and can be put in anything. Before I moved this pesto
in a bowl, I started scraping the spoon off with crackers. Eating it just like
that is perfect enough.

Then I used the pesto as a pizza sauce. Oh my, delicious! I used the pesto with fresh mozzarella cheese, blue cheese,
pancetta, mushrooms, and onions. The pizza dough that I used was from this cookbook too.
However, I didn't like it very much. The dough seemed to lack flavor, so
if you have your own favorite pizza dough recipe, I would recommend that you
stick with that. But again, aside from the not-so-great
pizza dough, this pesto is wonderful as a pizza sauce.

Another night, I used
this pesto as a base sauce for burritos. It was a great complement to all the
other fillings.

About Me

Hello, my name is Margarita. I try to live a healthy lifestyle by eating well and working out. I am a cooking enthusiast and I like sharing my love for good food. Most of my recipes contain lots of vegetables and perhaps a bit of meat here and there. Staying active is one of the things that keep me sane. I love doing yoga, walking, hiking, biking, lifting weights, and occasional running. Join me in my food, travel, and life adventures and together let's eat well, cook right, live strong, and be healthy!